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Your University, Your City

Since its founding in 1906, Suffolk University has made a commitment to provide its students with unparalleled experiences and opportunities. Explore our unique downtown Boston location, and then consider the many paths your life might take from here.

In the Heart of Boston

Getting Started

We’re excited that you want to learn more about Suffolk, and we think you’ll like what you find. Whether you’re looking into colleges or graduate school programs, we’re eager to help answer your questions and walk you through the application process.

Why Suffolk?

A Community of Learning

As you start your academic journey, you’ll find a supportive network of faculty, staff, and classmates ready to help you succeed. We let you chart the course your education takes, from traditional classes enriched by real-world experiences to research projects, study abroad, internships, and more.

Life As We Know It

Suffolk places you smack in the heart of Boston, with countless activities at hand and unexpected opportunities around every corner. Whether you’re commuting or living on campus, you’ll find yourself making connections and getting involved.

An Extended Family

When you graduate from Suffolk, you join a strong alumni community that will continue to enrich your life. More than 70,000 living Suffolk alumni stay connected with each other and the University, supporting their alma mater—including current students—in a whole bunch of ways.

Andrew Graff, MBA ’93, CEO of Allen & Gerritsen

Whether you're a student-athlete, an alum, or just looking for the latest game times, you'll find plenty of excitement in Suffolk athletics. We believe that athletic participation and competition are important aspects of the college experience. Lessons discovered through athletic participation contribute to success in a student's college years as well as in their future professional and personal experiences.

Invest in Excellence

Each graduate and friend of Suffolk University has the potential to make Suffolk even greater. We encourage giving at every level, with an emphasis on scholarships for a new generation of Suffolk students. Thank you so much for your support.

President Margaret McKenna

President Margaret McKenna

Margaret McKenna is president of Suffolk University; the first woman to lead the university since its founding in 1906.

“I have long been interested in Suffolk because its mission from the beginning has been access, and it continues to provide an education that is student centered and individually tailored,” said President McKenna, who has been focused on social justice throughout her career and sees higher education as its instrument. “Moreover, there are very few urban universities in this country like Suffolk, with applied liberal arts, a business school, and a law school. Suffolk is the model of a small urban university that uses the city as its classroom. And while Suffolk takes from the city, it gives more than it takes in terms of public policy, research and participation.”

President McKenna, an attorney, comes to Suffolk University from the Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy at Brandeis University, where she is a visiting professor and acting director.

President McKenna’s spent 22 years as president of Lesley College, during which time the college grew from 2,000 to more than 10,000 students, from a college to a university, and from a small regional college to a nationally recognized leader in teacher education. She has also served as vice-president of Radcliffe College and as a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.

As president of the Walmart Foundation from 2007 to 2011, President McKenna created a strategy that emphasized hunger relief, education, and the economic empowerment of women.

McKenna began her career as a civil rights attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. She has served as deputy counsel in the White House and as undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education, and she led the education transition team for President Clinton.

She is the vice-chair of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Board and sits on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. She has served on five corporate boards and dozens of non-profit boards and is the recipient of 10 honorary degrees.

Suffolk Trustee Mark E. Sullivan, who chaired the Presidential Search Committee, said, “Margaret McKenna has had her finger on the pulse of higher education for decades and is full of exciting ideas for leveraging Suffolk’s strengths to meet the needs of students who seek pragmatic learning that leads to a career path,” said. “We are fortunate to have her on board and look forward to her leadership as the University continues its ascendency.”

President McKenna earned a BA from Emmanuel College and a JD from Southern Methodist University.

A Conversation with President Margaret McKenna

The mantra for Suffolk’s 10th president is “do what you do as well or better than anyone else.”